William m



(No Model.)

W. M. CUTTER.

UAR COUPLING.

No. 385,101. Patented June 26, 1888.

bar H, which fits into and slides in the slot,

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICEe \VILLIAM M. CUTTER, OF MARYSVILLE,CALIFORNIA.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 385,101, dated June 26,1888.

Application filed April 2, 1888. Serial No. 269,339. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM M. CUTTER, of Marysville, Yuba county, Stateof California, have invented an Improvement in Car- Oouplers; and Ihereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the same.

My invention relates to a device for automatically coupling cars; and itconsistsin the combination, with the car-bumper and drawhead, of apin-holder and means for releasing the same at the instant when the carscome together, so as to allow the pin to drop into its proper positionthrough the link of the carcoupler.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanationof my invention, Figure 1 is ayiew showing the approach ing ends of thetwo cars with my device at tached to one of them. Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of the device.

A represents the car, having a draw-head, B, with the usual slot oropening to admit the link 0, by which it is connected with the nextadjacent ear, and D is the pin which passes through the draw-head, andthis link serves to couple the two cars together.

E E are the timbers of the bumpers, so called, and F F are the bumpers,which re, ceive the shock of the meeting cars. The bumper F may bepermanently fixed to its timber. The bumper F has a shank extend ingrearwardly through the timber and into a transverse slot, G, where it issecured to the being forced to the front end of the slot by a spring, I,and this forces the shaft and the bumper-head F outward, so as to beconsiderably in advance of the head F. In addition to the spring I, theweights J are so fnlcrumed to the timbers E that these weights willpress against the rear edges of the transverse sliding bar H and act inconjunction with the spring to hold it forward; Upon the top of thetimbers E is a guide, K, through which passes a vertical rod or rods, L.To the lower ends of these rods are fixed blocks M, one upon the outsideand one upon the inside of the bumper-timber E. The inner block M isslotted horizontally, and the open or slotted pin-holding link N isloosely swiveled in this block. The head of the pin D is made with aneck slightly smaller than the part 0 of the head, and this neck fitsinto the slot in the pin holder N. The head rests upon the top ofthepin-holder because it is not small enough to fall through the slot, andthe swiveling link N allows the pin to move and adjust itself to themovements of the draw-head. Thelower front edge of the transverse bar Hand the upper rear ends of the blocks M are beveled to such an anglethat when the blocks M are raised by the drawing upward of the rods Lthe inclined faces meeting will cause the bar H to move backward,temporarily pressing the spring I and swinging the counter-weights Jback until the blocks M have been raised above the upper surface of thebar H, when the spring and counter-weights acting will force the bar Hforward beneath the ends of the blocks M,which will thus be held up, andy is forced backward, carrying with it the trans verse bar H, until thewhole has passed beyond the rear edges of the blocks M, and the blocks,with the pinholder N and the pin D, are allowed to drop by gravitation,so as to carry the pin through the link into the draw-head, and thecoupling is thus complete.

In platform-cars the rods L are easily reached, so as to raise thepin-holder; but in case of box-cars these rods are connected with thesingle rod L, which extends upwardly to the top of the car with asuitable handle, so that itis within easy reach of the brakemen withouttheir going between the cars and endangering themselves.

Having thus described my inventiomwhat I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent. is

1. The backwardly-sliding bumper and the transverse bar connectedtherewith, a spring or counter-weight by which said bar is forced to thefront, in combination with the vertically-moving blocks and thepin-holding link connected therewith, said blocks being supported by atransverse bar, so as to hold the pin above the slot of the draw-head,and re leased by the impact of the bumper, snbstan= tially as hereindescribed.

2. The backwardly-rnoving bumper, the transverse bar connected with andcarried thereby, and the spring and counter-weights by which it is heldto the front, in combina- 5 tion with the blocks holding the link,having their rear ends beveled or inclined to corre spond withthebeveled or inclined front edge of the transverse bar, so that theblocks may force the bar backward and pass it when ris- [0 ing and beheld up by it after they are raised,

substantially as herein described.

3. The horizontallysliding bumper and transverse bar, the spring orcounter-weights by which the bar is held to the front, in combinationwith the vertically-moving lifting- I 5 In witness whereof I havehereunto set my 20 hand.

WILLIAM M. CUTTER.

Witnesses:

. M. MORRISON,

D. S. TIBBETTS.

